New Years Fishing In The Wildlife Refuge

Fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge new years day was lackluster to say the least, but considering the weather change, I really didn't expect much.

My wife and I decided to take Elmo and Odie out to the "swamp" for a ride and to do a little fishing.  We started out at around 3:00 pm loaded up with a few rods and some shrimp for bait.

We were originally going to try fishing in Haulover Canal, but because it was late in the day and I didn't want to waste time driving so far, we decided to fish the Catfish Creek area in the refuge instead.

Because "Pocket Road" is closed to vehicle traffic for the waterfowl hunting season, I expected the area to be covered up with bank fishermen but as we drove around the "loop" I was surprised to see only a few guys on the river.

We picked a spot where the dogs couldn't get into too much trouble and staked out several rods with fresh dead frozen shrimp and began to fish.

We didn't have to wait long before both Karen and I got bites.  I'm not normally a bait fishermen and I managed to miss the first three bites before finally hooking up with a nice hard head catfish.

Karen kept missing fish and finally landed a spotted sea trout that was just legal.

She released her fish and continued fishing.

As it started getting towards dusk, several fishermen started coming into the area to stake out their fishing spots.

I briefly hooked and lost a heavy fish that was probably a drum and Karen had several more bites before hooking an releasing another catfish.

As the light over the river waned, I hooked into a "rat redfish" that put up a brief tussle before being unhooked and released.

That turned out to be the last bite of the afternoon, so after the gnats started to gnaw away at my legs, we decided to call it a day and head home.

Elmo and Odie had a ball, Karen and I both caught some fish, and we all enjoyed New Years fishing in the wildlife refuge on a beautiful afternoon.

Till next time, Tight Lines.